Mobile Phone and Technology Feature

Technology that we carry in the palm of our hands is rapidy changing.
Simon Nash looks at the future developments of the mobile phone.

The massive growth in the mobile phone industry over the last five years has been nothing short of dramatic. This expansion has brought with it a steady development in technology, which we find crammed into our mobiles. However, in a bid to combat the recent slump in mobile sales, a fall which has been put down to market saturation and poor economic climate, phone manufacturers and network operators have had to create new technologies, applications and content, to entice users to part with more cash, and their now apparently old fashioned phones. Retailer, 'Phones 4 You', current advertising slogan is, 'Ashamed of your mobile? We'll find the right phones4u'.

So what have new phones got to offer? The mobiles on the market today, not to mention the whole host of phones waiting in the wings for their release, before the year is out, are virtually unrecognisable from those on sale five years ago. Ok, the basic shape has not changed that much, although many models are now much smaller, they still make phone calls, and still send text messages. The text message craze was of course in its infancy around five years ago. Now we find picture messaging is being thrust upon us. The phone networks are confident that Multi Media Messages otherwise known as MMS picture messaging, will at least equal the text message craze. Figures in the Guardian newspaper, state that at present, in the UK, we send a staggering 1.5 billion texts every month.

For photo messaging, two types of phone are available, either ones with integrated cameras such as the Nokia 7650, or clip on cameras, which feature on Sony Ericsson's T68i. Even before the ability to send pictures to mobiles on all networks, huge excitement is being generated around video streaming technology, that will make up '3G' - Third generation phones. Despite rumour of some major teething difficulties, including a problem where the phones could not be used whilst moving, they are still demanding substantial interest. The main advance with 3G phones comes in the shape of far greater amounts of data transfer being possible, which in turn allows for digital video streaming. The first network to provide the 3G service is the new operator named '3'. One apparent advantage 3 seems to have over its rivals, is that it owns the rights to Premiership football. Highlights of matches can be downloaded onto a phone and then watched on demand.

	"Video calling, the ability to see someone when speaking on the phone is utterly spellbinding. Nothing can compare to that. Our research shows that 18 - 25 year olds are just waiting to jump onboard."


	'Edward Bruster' - 3's spokes man

The 3G application with potentially the broadest appeal, however, has to be, Video Calling'. Previously consigned to sci-fi films or music video fantasy worlds, the ability to see, an individuals face, moving in 'Real Time' on a handset during a phone conversation, is set to become an everyday reality. That is of course if you can fund the 50 pence per minute call charges. 3's spokes man, 'Edward Bruster' has every confidence this element of the new 3G service will be a winner. "Having carried out a lot of consumer research, we have found that a lot of people are intrigued by the video element. Video calling, the ability to see someone when speaking on the phone is utterly spellbinding. Nothing can compare to that. Our research shows that 18 - 25 year olds are just waiting to jump onboard."

Other features the new phones will provide include are greater connectivity between mobiles and PCs, higher quality games and Internet browsing. However as Lisa Gernon, 3's director of strategy and marketing said, "What we are really majoring on is video content." It's not just face to face calls and football which is planned to take us into a new mobile video age, but also news and entertainment. The most significant factors to 3's success will be whether people can afford the phones, which will retail at around £300 with basic monthly line rental packages starting at £59.99 a month. They will also have a task ensuring that the new generation phones can deliver high enough quality video images to justify the price tag.

With colour handsets now coming as a standard feature, gaming looks to continue as a key application for mobile phones. Versions of classic games like Space Invaders, R-Type and Pang are now available to download from the Internet, at a cost of between £3 to £5 pounds. One slight problem is that such games take up a lot of memory on phones, so depth and quality is limited. One way around this is merely to download one level at time and therefore extend the life span of a game. Nokia are hoping to find another way round this problem with their 'N Gage phone'. Out later this year, the phone is a dedicated gaming phone, and with the backing of software giants, Sega, they hope to rival Nintendo¹s Game Boy Advance. Rather than downloading games, they will appear on interchangeable cartridges. There is some industry scepticism as to whether the £350 price tag will make the N-Gage competitive.
Nokia, however are banking on the wireless multiplayer function to generate sales. By using Blue Tooth a form of short wave radio, groups of gamers can compete with each other, so long as they are within a few meters of one another.

Meanwhile, with more phones featuring polyphonic ring tones, that is the ability to play more than one note at a time, resulting in much more musical call alerts, expect the downloadable ring tone industry to continue it's expansion. Hopefully it will also save some people the effort of convincing their friends that it is actually the latest dance floor hit on their phone, and not just a recording of a chimp dancing on a monophonic keyboard.

New mobile technology is at present exciting and expensive. The prices will fall, but only after the mobile companies feel they cannot sell any more phones at the high market entry price. How long this takes will dictate how long it will be before the average person has all that extra fun and excitement packed into their trouser pocket.

With consumers still complaining about the lack of reliable reception, are the mobile companies trying to run before they can walk?

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